Inshore: Do tides matter right now?

[bman]

Last two trips 90% of the fish came early or late in the day... very little bite during the hot part.

Is that just me? Am I stuck in my spring pattern and unwilling to learn something new?

I got out Friday and fished the falling tide in several areas I know hold fish.
Nothing but a few cats, ladys and a big jack. Had to come off the water about 6pm just as it was starting to cool off.
Now the one other factor was that front line coming across- lots of pressure changes.

What do you guys think? Should we just be fishing the first few hours or last few hours of the day?

[Jumptrout51]

Early and late have always been good. Tide movement is necessary for a good bite.
Right now because of the 83 degree plus water I would look for shallow water adjacent to dropoffs where the water is cooler.
The deeper flats with structured bottom is also good this time of year.
Not giving away secret spots but I would take my own advice.

[weaver brown]

They tell me it doesn't matter much if the tide is coming or going as long as it's moving. Also trout, reds, and flounder are "low light" fish so early or late or cloudy is best. I wouldn't know. I can't catch fish with dynamite.

[whitebc]

... I wouldn't know. I can't catch fish with dynamite.

YEAH what he said!!!

[Troutinator]

Just two cents worth, but on Sunday, the Tarpon were only moving when the tide was moving in. They seemed to just be more active, plus the falling tide was more active later in the day. So with what i have seen the tides do matter due to water moving, this was during the mid day feeding activity.

[Charles]

What WB said about trout and reds not liking bright sun. What has worked for me when the sun gets up is fish deeper or murkier water. Keeping in mind that murkier shallow water will warm up faster. When it gets too hot they'll shut down or move from there, too.

When the trout are refusing to cooperate on shallower flats because of bright sun, they will often still be active on deeper grass, try in the 10-12 foot range.

I seem to do better on a falling tide. Others say rising. I think the key is that the water has to be moving. I can't remember ever doing well on anything except catfish when the tide is still, either high or low.

[big bend gyrene]

Bman, for what it's worth here's my humble opinion... for really shallow water as well as clear water, I always aim to be throwing lures/baits out as early/late as possible, regardless of the tides, and definitely have had many more shallow water topwater blowups between sunrise and 10:00am versus mid afternoon hours... ditto for approaching darkness versus bright daylight hours.

HOWEVER, for fishing I do in waters I consider mid-depth (8 or so to about 20 feet) and deeper offshore waters (20+) I have found the tides to be amazing predictors for the timing of most bites, and actually print out a chart every time I go showing the predicted flow by 15 minute intervals so I can be sure I've got bait and am sitting on my hotspots during peak flow... mid-shore/offshore grouper, spanish, bluefish, jacks, and even cobia to a lesser extent hit our baits much more aggressively when the waters are really ripping (not to mention offshore baitschools visually start getting slammed this time of year when the water flow is peak). When the tide weakens we still have fish follow, but seems like they are about 10x less likely to actually feed versus just looking. Cobia are somewhat of an exception, as we've had them show up at high noon and slack tide, but even then it seems like they are more just dumbly cruising around and may or may not bite, versus appearing to be more aggressively on the prowl and in larger packs when the tide is strongest.

Reds are a beast seemingly with their own rules, from my own experiences at least, and their feeding often seems VERY tide dependent... just sometimes frustrating figuring out exactly which tide pattern they are preferring at a given spot... for example may be feeding very aggressively in tall grass as a high incoming tide finishes as well as begins to pull bait back out versus possibly a totally different tide pattern on hard bottom/deeper oyster beds, but they still will be doing the most feeding when the water is pushing bait in the position they prefer for the given structure. I have double digited many a time when it sure seemed to not only be school dependent, but also tide influenced, only to have the changing tide flow seemingly contributing to the end of a very hot bite.

Again, just my .02 from my own experiences. Also think someone's comment about water clarity and fear of daylight exposure almost certainly factors in... due to living out Monticello way, the east flats are my preferred waters and wouldn't surprise me at all if the darker/murkier water might make the tide a bit more of a factor, as well as possibly lessening the daylight effect, even if ever so slightly.

Still wanting to take you out Econfina/Aucilla way... Panga is in the shop for E-tec 3 year tune up, but really want to treat you to a weekday trip out once I get her back!

BBG